Stone Thief
by Alexbay218
Summary: In the regular city of Kalkara. Eric discovers his ability to produce magic. Apprentice to Varinius, he finds out that someone is stealing magic from wizard hiding there. Rated T for magical violence(only happened once or twice).


The Stone Thief

By: Shaun Wu

He was dead. He knew it. Why did I do that?! he thought. It was official that, he, Eric Summerson, was a dead meat. He ran down the street and seeing the old man chasing after him, he ducked into the alley on his right. He ran and jump the fence and thought, _There is no way that old geezer can jump that fence._

Then a rough hand seized his collar and held him there. It was the "old geezer". Even though old man was about 70 years old, he was fit. A quick scan from Eric told him that the man was not to be messed with.

Eric held the stone in his hand. It was smooth with runes written on it, and it was the source of the problem. He had stolen the stone from the old man from curiosity. Thinking that it was not a big deal, he didn't conceal the fact that he did and ended up here.

"Why did you steal it?" exclaimed the old man.

As old as he is, this man can shout, Eric thought and it hurts my ear.

"Well, tell me!"

_Gosh, I wish I wasn't here. Even passed that fence would be nice. I really wish I was there instead._

At that moment, a blinding flash of white light appear, scorching his vision.

When the dizzying spots of white disappeared, he felt a lot weaker and daze, as if something drained his energy. Then he realized he was on other side of the fence.

_How did that happen?_

Eric looked up and saw the old man staring at him. Then the old man said in a brisk manner, "Come with me"

"But…"

"Come with me, NOW!"

Eric stood up and reluctantly followed the old man.

"And I will have my stone back"

He gave it to him.

~~O~~

Sometime later, Eric looked up to see a two story house on the outskirts of the city painted in gray. Since it was late afternoon, the house looked eerie and ominous under the lengthening shadows.

He said, "If you seriously expect me to follow you into the house, you are wrong."

"Get in there"

"Why sho-"

"Because I said so!"

Eric looked around to see if anyone would notice, but nobody paid any attention to them. Finally he shrugged mentally and sighed. _I guess I have to agree with this wacko._

And for the second time that day, Eric wished he was not here. But this time there was no flash of light. Something was different. Something was wrong. It was as if he was tethered to the ground.

"That stunt you did earlier won't happen again, now GET MOVING!"

He entered the house and examined the living room. It was a small, bright room with two soft leather couches and a wooden coffee table in the middle. In the farthest corner, there stood a dark wooden desk with a swivel chair.

"Sit down"

He sat.

"Now, you and I need to talk"

Eric nodded.

"Now what do you know about the stone you were holding?"

"What?"

The man looked into his eyes and saw the genuine confusion. Then he looked relieved and considered him for a second.

Then he said, "Look kid, what I am going to tell you may seem crazy, but it is true."

"Tell me about it."

The man paused for a moment, not sure where to begin.

Eric, breaking the awkward silence asked, "What happened in the alley back there?"

The man looked at him and replied, "You were holding my stone"

"And what does that mean?"

"That means you use your internal energy to teleport you to the place you wish, the stone you were holding is powerful, so therefore it was a lot easier to focus that energy into teleporting. In other words, you used "magic" I was actually surprised that you could teleport that far. Most beginners even have a hard time lighting wood on fire."

"What are you saying?"

"That you are a wizard."

~~O~~

"Concentrate"

Eric was in the basement of the house, practicing focusing his energy to create flames. He had agreed to become an apprentice to the man, whose name is Varinius. Since he had no parents, he would be living with Varinius.

Eric visualized the piece of wood erupting in flames and used his mind to pinpoint his energy into the wood. It was a lot harder considering he didn't have a stone yet. Varinius was still making his. He summoned his energy and poured it into the wood, lighting it on fire. The effort cost him a lot of his energy.

"Good job, you can rest now."

He gratefully sank to his knees. All this concentration is very hard. And energy consuming.

"Most beginners can't do anything without a stone"

"And it's supposed to be comforting?"

"It means you have a talent. And a lot of power"

"That is nice, but I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Back in the alley, I could teleport away, but I couldn't do it again, why?"

"Teleportation is a handy means of transportation but a wizard can stop other wizards from teleporting away if they are in the same area. I didn't know you were so powerful, but afterwards, I could stop you teleporting away. Also, it only works if you have been to the destination or can visualize it."

"When is my stone ready to use?"

"Tomorrow, but you need to determine your alignment."

"What is that?"

"I will explain tomorrow, but for now, you are excused."

~~O~~

It was around seven when Eric woke up.

He sat up from his bed. It was soft and warm, but he was excited to receive his stone. The room was small with a desk in the corner. A bookshelf lined the opposite wall. The only window in the room was to his back.

_It's a pretty cozy little room._

Eric hopped off the bed and exited the room into the living room. He found his mentor sitting in the living room, holding a stone. The stone was just a plain old stone. Gray and plain, it did not look extraordinary. Seeing this, Eric asked,

"Is that my stone?"

"Yes"

"Why does it look like a plain, old stone?"

"You have not chosen your alignment yet."

"What is an alignment?"

"An alignment can be whatever you wish. Aside from the regular set of skills such as lighting fires or teleporting, a specific set of skills are chosen by the wizard to focus on developing. I can't teach you everything if you choose a different alignment than me, but I can point you in the right direction. I will also teach you tips and tricks in combat."

"I need to learn how to fight?"

"Yes, there are a lot of wizards in this and other cities."

"Really? I never knew that."

"Most, if not all, are incognito."

"Okay, but how do I choose an alignment."

"You must first picture a sample of the alignment. Like if you were to study the art of fire, you picture fire. Then you focus on it and project it onto the stone. The stone will glow and runes will appear. You cannot change the alignment of the stone, so if you wish to change alignment, you must create another one. A fire aligned stone will channel energy focusing on fire better than a water aligned stone."

"Okay, but I don't know which alignment to choose."

"I will leave you to think. When you have chosen one, find me."

His mentor gave him a list of all the different alignments, stood up, and walked out.

_Which one should I choose? Fire would be nice, but it is messy. Water is a little useless. Living things would be cool to create minions. What about material properties? I guess I could change the temperature of materials to melt them. That would be cool. I guess that is what I choose._

He called to Varinius to come back.

His mentor asked, "So what have you chosen?"

"Materialistic properties"

"That is a good choice. Now focus on it and project the energy into the stone."

Eric envisioned metal melting and focused on it. Then he stared intently at the stone and projected that vision into the stone, embedding it into the rock. The stone glowed brightly in a brilliant white and when it faded, it was a glass sphere with a pebble stuck in the middle. Eric watched in surprise as the pebble melt into liquid and then back into a solid.

"You will be focusing on drawing and releasing energy to transform materials into different state of matter. After that you will focus on turning materials to different materials by swapping energy from to different objects."

~~O~~

Eric was sitting in the basement with an ice cube placed on the table, holding his stone in his left hand. His mentor was teaching him how to melt the ice cube by focusing on a specific point, namely the center. It was pretty easy at this stage.

"Now focus on melting the ice cube by projecting your energy onto the whole ice cube."

"Why? I can do the same with one specific point."

"It will be important in changing materials with others. Better to start now."

He summoned the pool of energy with in him and focused on projecting it onto the whole ice cube. The energy flowed from the center of his body, through his right arm, which were pointing to the ice, and into the ice cube. It was visible as a white beam of light. It melted into a puddle of water within seconds.

"Good, now here is the important part. Every stone allows this ability that I am teaching you now: concentrate on the air around the puddle and the puddle itself. Then using your mind, push the water into the air and push the air around it to form a shape of a cube. You need to focus all your energy into it."

Eric did what he was told and channeled energy into the air, willing it to move and pushing it into the water, lifting that as well. The fluid form into a cubish shape and was held there, though at the cost of Eric's energy.

"Well done, but this is the hard part. Envision the water as an energy source and draw it into you. The water will freeze into ice."

Eric used his mind and reached into the water and pulled out the energy contained in the water. There was a visible beam of light emanating from the water to Eric's outstretched hand. The liquid grew still and eventually froze.

"Good job! You can take a break now"

The effort of that task left him feeling drained. He stood up, yawned and stretched.

"Now, time for some history" ,Varinius said.

~~O~~

"The first wizards emerged from ancient Italy, where Latin originated. The stone was called "lapidis maleficus" ,meaning "magic stone". The second generation, spawned by the first, came from the Roman Empire. After that, the third generation started in Europe, right smack in the medieval times."

"Were there any wizard wars?"

"Yes, World War 1 and 2 were caused by wizards in their greedy desire for power. Some of the generals were wizards"

"That is interesting, but how do you know this?"

"Because I was the first wizard."

~~O~~

"Wake up!"

Eric woke up suddenly to his mentors shouting.

"Are you awake now?"

"Yes, thank you" ,he said coldly

"Well, you have woken two hours ago. Get up, I will meet you in the basement in ten minutes"

Muttering under his breath, Eric sat up and got dressed. Then he strode off to meet Varinius in the basement.

When he arrived, he saw two objects on the table, there was a block of stone and a block of metal. Both were about the same size (one cubic inch). He sat down on the chair beside the table.

"So what am I suppose to do?"

"You will swap properties with the two objects by envisioning them and take them out of the object and put it into the other."

Eric felt the properties of the objects. He then, with his mind, reach down and pulled out the distinct properties. The objects resisted at first, then released it. It took a huge chunk of his energy and concentration, more that he liked. He ended up with two balls of energy in his hand: one gray, the other silver. He directed them to the opposite objects, which had lost its color, and inserted them into the object. They glowed brightly for a second, then it faded away. They looked like he had just pick them up and swapped their places.

"They look just the same, except in different places."

"They retain the same shape but the one that was stone is now metal, and vice-versa"

"That is not very useful."

"No, but if you had to break a thick wooden door, and you had a marble, you could just swap properties with the door and the marble and now the door is glass. This trick doesn't work with living things. You could just switch part of the door instead to conserve energy. Try that now. Concentrate on the top half of the block of metal and turn that into metal."

Eric focused on the top half of the metal and drew out the energy contain inside that half and the block of stone. Both of them lost their color (except the bottom half of the metal block) and the energy was contained in his hand. He then promptly switch the two materials and ended up with a metal block and a block of stone and metal. The effort leached the rest of his energy and he felt light headed.

"Rest now, you are drained of all your energy."

He could barely walk up stairs and quickly fell asleep on his bed.

~~O~~

**A week later:**

Eric had been practicing all the exercises that his mentor showed last week and he could do it with more efficiency. It was becoming increasingly easier. Varinius had explained that the stone he had would become easier to use the longer he used it. He saw that Varinius was growing restless in the past few days. He decided to address the issue that his mentor felt.

"So, what is the problem?"

"I need to track down a person in this city."

"Why?"

"He has been stealing stones from all the wizards that live here. I am a senior member of the wizard council sent here to track track him down, but your apprenticeship distracted me from the task on hand. Can I trust you to stay here while I track him down?"

"Actually, I think I am ready to come with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely"

Varinius looked into Eric's eyes and saw confidence there. _He use to be shy and timid when I took him on as an apprentice_, he thought.

"Okay, let's pack up."

~~O~~

Three days later:

"There, it is all done."

Varinius and Eric had set a trap for the thief. The stone that was created for that purpose was set inside a house that they built. They could capture the thief when he went to steal the stone.

"I guess we wait."

They ran and hid in a tent they set up in the woods next to the house

~~O~~

Several hours later, Eric saw a vague shape moving towards the house in the afternoon light.

"Hey, I see someone moving to the house."

"I see him too, get into position."

Eric crept to the right of the door. A minute later, the alarm sound, then it was quickly silenced by the thief.

_Any time now_

The thief busted out of the house through the door. Eric attempted to slow him down by switching the ground with the ice. He had prepared an ice cube for this purpose.

The thief slipped on the unexpected change and fell down on his back.

Varinius seeing this, produced handcuffs and attempted to cuff the thief.

That was where the first fireball went.

~~O~~

He slipped on the ice, land on his back. _Ouch! that hurts a lot_. Then he saw the two strangers advancing on him, one was just a boy. The old man had a handcuff in his hand, so he mustered some energy and produce a fireball with his stone. The man toppled backwards, stunned by the blow.

The man had deflected the fireball, but the force off the blow surprised him.

The boy ran towards the man, checking to see if he was alright.

It is time to disappear.

He ran away, moving as fast as he can.

~~O~~

_Noooooooo!_

Eric ran over to his mentor, all thoughts on capturing the thief completely gone. He then saw that Varinius was waving him away.

"Go after him!"

"But-"

"I'm fine, go!"

Eric looked at his mentor and didn't see any major injuries. There were a few scrapes here and there, but he would be alright, Eric realized.

"GO!"

Galvanized into action, Eric sprinted away, after the thief.

He ran in the general direction that thief was last seen headed, into the streets. He stop, realizing that the thief was now were to be found.

Then he saw a vague shadow, running down a street parallel to him. Cars honked at the offender, and Eric chased after him. The thief was easy to track, as he caused a commotion.

Eric was gaining on the thief now, and seeing this, he redoubled his effort. The thief glanced back and saw this, so he slipped into the narrow alley to his right. Eric followed him and was shock to see it was the alley that he found his ability to produce magic.

_What a small world._

The thief climbed over the fence and ran. Eric follow him. Just as he was about to climb over, the thief turned and raised his hand and scorched the fence, red hot with heat. Eric stop himself a second too late and put his hand on the fence. The intense heat sent shafts of pain stabbing through Eric.

Seeing his handiwork, the thief turned and ran.

~~O~~

Eric trod back to his home and found Varinius wait for him in the basement.

"I guess you didn't catch him"

"Yeah"

"Don't worry, he will turn up. Here is the next set of exercises."

"Okay, let me grab my stone."

He went and reached for his stone, but it wasn't there.

_Where is my stone? Hmmmm… That thief must have stolen it, but he ran away went I saw him. How could this happen? Wait, maybe he is still be here!_

Eric dashed out of the basement and found the thief crossing living room, about to escape. He tackled the thief and, by luck, grabbed his stone. The thief pushed him off with magic and stood up.

Eric summoned all his energy, and switch the air around the thief with the wooden wall. The thief was instantly encased in wood.

Varinius turned up besides the young boy and reversed the transformation. The thief slipped away.

Then he said, "Well done Eric! You passed the test! You are officially my apprentice now. "

Eric was shocked. He was dumbfound.

"That whole thing was a test!? It was all fake!?"

"Yes, and you passed it."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Because you would act differently if I told you."

"I guess so, but I thought I was already your apprentice."

"It wasn't officially recognized by the Wizard Council."

"Okay, so what will happen now?"

"Your training begins now."

**The End**

**I hope you have enjoyed this short story and I hope to write a sequel to this story. **

**Shout out to Rocky Run Students!**


End file.
